KUCHING: The Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) is ready to face the monsoon season with some 1,194 well-trained and experienced personnel on standby statewide.
Sarawak Bomba director Khirudin Drahman gave his assurance at a press conference at the Sarawak Bomba headquarters in Tabuan Jaya here on Tuesday (Nov 17).
He added that an additional 230 personnel would also be on standby at every fire station in the state, along with 2,259 volunteers from 53 teams and 7,453 Bomba Community members in villages.
“They are highly trained and equipped with safety and rescue knowledge and skills.
“Members of Bomba Community will be the first responder who will report the situation accurately in their respective areas.
“From there, the fire station will deploy the asset suitable to tackle the situation reported.”
Not only that, over 10,000 members of Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) statewide would also act as first responder, he said.
Khirudin said preparations would also focus on flood-risk areas in the east such as Lawas, Miri and Limbang.
However, he said that recent reports showed that areas in the west – from Kuching until Sri Aman – were also often hit by flash floods and monsoon floods.
“As of today, 68 calls were received by Bomba operations centre regarding flash floods and monsoon floods.”
As for assets and logistics, Khirudin revealed that there were 16 three-tonne and five-tonne lorries in three Bomba bases statewide – Kuching, Sibu and Miri.
“Sixty-seven four-wheel drives, 45 rescue boats (not including rescue boats owned by Bomba Volunteers and Bomba Community) for 34 fire stations statewide and one helicopter in Miri.
“All the assets are in good condition and on standby. As for the helicopter, it is on standby in Miri as it focuses more on the east side already identified as areas that are prone to floods and experiencing heavy rainfall.”
On temporary evacuation centres, Khirudin stressed that the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) and Department of National Security (JKN) were planning on adding more centres.
“The centres will also follow the Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) guidelines such as maintaining social distancing in the evacuation centre or on the rescue boat – not only restricted to flood rescue but also landslide rescue as well.
“Therefore, it requires thorough planning and discussion with all agencies to ensure everyone’s safety with the directives from SDMC and JKN.”
Last year, 621 temporary evacuation centres were opened while more would be opened this year following SDMC and JKN SOP. Khirudin also reminded the public to always follow weather reports from the Malaysian Meteorological Department and Sarawak Bomba’s social media for updates.
